After just one year of operation, Southern Brewing Company is unveiling plans that will benefit Athens brewery-goers, musicians and restaurants.
Southern Brewing Company is in the early stages of constructing an outdoor concert venue — an amphitheater with the capacity for 1,500 people. Plans for the amphitheater have been approved by Athens-Clarke County, and the brewery has already begun clearing out space, according to Southern Brewing Company co-founder Brian Roth.
“There won’t be seating. It’ll all be grass,” Roth said. “Big trees will get left so that it’s a little more natural, outdoorsy. The goal is like a really cool, kind of southern farm space, almost.”
Not only is there a shortage of outdoor venues in Athens, but Roth also pointed to the void left by the exodus of music festival Super Jam, which brought musical acts such as Blues Traveler, Widespread Panic, Dave Matthews Band and R.E.M. to the Athens Fairgrounds in the 1980s and 1990s.
The proposed amphitheater would be large enough to accommodate artists on both a local and national level as they tour through the Southeast.
“Our goal, probably, is to do three big shows a year here, in that space to start off with,” Roth said. “Then, hopefully we can use that to augment some smaller, more local shows. I would like to have a local showcase here at least once a month, eventually.”
The ball starts rolling this fall. Southern Brewing Company plans to host the band Cracker to celebrate its first anniversary on August 20.
Additionally, while Southern Brewing Company is not a brewpub and cannot serve food, the amphitheater would facilitate partnerships between the brewery and local establishments.
